[go: up one dir, main page]

    Release calendarTop 250 moviesMost popular moviesBrowse movies by genreTop box officeShowtimes & ticketsMovie newsIndia movie spotlight
    What's on TV & streamingTop 250 TV showsMost popular TV showsBrowse TV shows by genreTV news
    What to watchLatest trailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightFamily entertainment guideIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsEmmysSan Diego Comic-ConSummer Watch GuideToronto Int'l Film FestivalSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll events
    Born todayMost popular celebsCelebrity news
    Help centerContributor zonePolls
For industry professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign in
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • FAQ
IMDbPro

The House Across the Lake

  • 1954
  • Approved
  • 1h 8m
IMDb RATING
6.0/10
897
YOUR RATING
Hillary Brooke, Paul Carpenter, Sidney James, Alex Nicol, and Susan Stephen in The House Across the Lake (1954)
Heat Wave: Fast Blondes And Slow Gin
Play clip1:28
Watch Heat Wave: Fast Blondes And Slow Gin
1 Video
71 Photos
Film NoirCrimeDrama

An American writer living in England gets entangled in a scheme by a beautiful blonde to murder her rich husband.An American writer living in England gets entangled in a scheme by a beautiful blonde to murder her rich husband.An American writer living in England gets entangled in a scheme by a beautiful blonde to murder her rich husband.

  • Director
    • Ken Hughes
  • Writer
    • Ken Hughes
  • Stars
    • Alex Nicol
    • Hillary Brooke
    • Sidney James
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.0/10
    897
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Ken Hughes
    • Writer
      • Ken Hughes
    • Stars
      • Alex Nicol
      • Hillary Brooke
      • Sidney James
    • 31User reviews
    • 16Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Heat Wave: Fast Blondes And Slow Gin
    Clip 1:28
    Heat Wave: Fast Blondes And Slow Gin

    Photos71

    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    + 65
    View Poster

    Top cast34

    Edit
    Alex Nicol
    Alex Nicol
    • Mark Kendrick
    Hillary Brooke
    Hillary Brooke
    • Carol Forrest
    Sidney James
    Sidney James
    • Beverly Forrest
    Susan Stephen
    Susan Stephen
    • Andrea Forrest
    Paul Carpenter
    • Vincent Gordon
    Alan Wheatley
    Alan Wheatley
    • Inspector MacLennan
    Peter Illing
    Peter Illing
    • Harry Stevens
    Gordon McLeod
    • Doctor Emery
    Joan Hickson
    Joan Hickson
    • Mrs. Hardcastle
    John Sharp
    John Sharp
    • Mr. Hardcastle
    Hugh Dempster
    • Frank
    Monti DeLyle
    • Head Waiter
    • (as Monti de Lyle)
    Christine Adrian
    • Receptionist
    • (uncredited)
    Jack Armstrong
    • Party Guest
    • (uncredited)
    William Baskiville
    • Party Guest
    • (uncredited)
    Ernest Blyth
    • Editor
    • (uncredited)
    Harry Brunning
    • Railway Porter
    • (uncredited)
    Dan Cressey
    • Party Guest
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Ken Hughes
    • Writer
      • Ken Hughes
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews31

    6.0897
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10

    Featured reviews

    6trimmerb1234

    Lady from Shanghai only it ain't just the water that's fresh.

    Surprisingly good for a budget Hammer film. Lacking the tantalising gorgeousness of Rita Hayworth or the star-power of Orson Welles and Everett Sloane in Lady from Shanghai the similarly water-borne and much more likely inspiration, the leads do well and the director/screenwriter keeps things nicely atmospheric. The plot twists are effective. But overall the plot lacks the complexity, novelty and power of Lady from Shanghai and the ending is sudden and perfunctory. And ungallant though it might be to say so, the film's femme fatale it has to be said is mature to the point of being a femme mildly injurious but certainly is not lacking in the dramatic stakes.

    A 6.5 Seen on Talking Pictures TV
    J. Spurlin

    James M. Cain rip-off is more engaging than most of the films in VCI's "Hammer Noir" collection

    An American writer (Alex Nicol), down on his luck, meets his rich neighbors who also live by the lake. He befriends the ailing husband (Sid James) and falls in love with the duplicitous wife (Hillary Brooke).

    Ken Hughes directed "The House Across the Lake" (with the irrelevant American title of "Heat Wave") from his own screenplay based on his own novel. I guess he is the only one to blame for the story's blatant rip-off of James M. Cain (particularly "The Postman Always Rings Twice" and "Double Indemnity"). But at least he rips off the best, which means this crime thriller is more engaging than most of the films included in VCI's "Hammer Noir" DVD collection.
    dougdoepke

    Noir Crosses the Atlantic

    At a time when noir production was converting to TV, Lippert hooked up with England's Hammer Films. (And that's before Hammer hooked up with Dracula and Frankenstein.) Judging from this effort, budget minded Lippert got a lot more bang for their buck overseas.

    Compared with traditional noir, the settings here are much more naturalistic than expressionistic. There's little of the usual menace of light and shadow. Instead, most scenes are shot on location with natural lighting, except for the climactic fog-bound sequence. This undercuts atmosphere and mood, staples of standard noir. As a result, it's the fateful story that's highlighted. And since the story is narrated in flashback, it seems the outcome is pre- determined in some metaphysical sense.

    Sure, you've seen the story before, as others point out. A rich man's slutty wife (Brooke) conspires to kill him with key help from a luckless fall guy (Nicol). Sounds like Double Indemnity (1944) even down to the double-cross. Still, the screenplay is good enough to hold interest. And was there ever a more stately ice queen than Hillary Brooke. It's hard to see her ever unwinding enough for intimacy. And therein lies a problem. Too bad the film couldn't show some stage of real melt from her, like a dash of undress or even mussed-up mascara. Nicol too is pretty low-key for a guy obsessed. But then this is 1954, not exactly the anything goes of more recent vintage. In my book, it's luckless Sidney James who steals the film, with his nicely modulated peek at a doomed man. I like the way the script only later fills in why he's so seemingly indifferent to his wife's very public affairs. That way we're left really curious for a well-timed period.

    Anyhow, the movie's much better than the lowly two-stars out of four that TCM rates it. Then again, maybe I'm just a sucker for any noir with a well-turned ankle.
    8django-1

    British "Double Indemnity"-style mystery, w/ two US leads

    Released in the US by Lippert as "Heat Wave", The House Across The Lake (actually a more accurate title, although Heat Wave suggests some of Hillary Brooke's smoldering sensuality!) is yet another film owing a debt to both Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice. American Alex Nicol stars as a heavy-drinking writer who lives across the lake from Hillary Brooke, a scheming Black Widow temptress who teases various men she meets while being married to a wealthy but distant husband (yes, all the cliches are here, but they play well!). Needless to say, Nicol begins a friendship with the husband while falling for the ravishing Ms. Brooke, and any lover of noir thrillers can probably predict the way the film develops. Still, it is well-played by the leads and by the British supporting cast, and Mr. Nicol convincingly portrays a man beaten-down by life, who is brought to the point where he has nothing to lose. I won't give away the ending, but it seems somewhat of a surprise while it is happening, which is what a good mystery should do, even if it is constructed from well-known plot elements of the genre. If you like post-war B&W noir-tinged mysteries of this type, it's a good way to spend 85 minutes on a rainy day--and another opportunity to re-acquaint yourselves with the two underrated American stars, Alex Nicol and Hillary Brooke (fans of Ms. Brooke should check out the early 50s gem CONFIDENCE GIRL, co-starring Tom Conway, for a real Hillary Brooke tour-de-force).
    7hitchcockthelegend

    Carol's in love with Carol!

    The House Across the Lake (AKA: Heat Wave) is directed by Ken Hughes and he also adapts the screenplay from his own novel High Wray. It stars Alex Nicol, Hillary Brooke, Sid James, Susan Stephen and Paul Carpenter. Music is by Ivor Slaney and cinematography by Walter J. Harvey.

    American novelist Mark Kendrick (Nicol) is living in England and trying to finish his latest novel. When he is invited for drinks at the house across the lake, Mark becomes entangled in the web of a beautiful blonde...

    OK! This plot is hardly new and film noir boasts some truly excellent pictures where a man is duped into a downward spiral by a femme fatale vixen. In that respect, this Hammer Film Production can't compete, either in production value or quality of narrative, yet this is still worthy of inspection by the film noir faithful.

    Nicol's (looking like a poor man's Sterling Hayden) Mark Kendrick and Brooke's Carol Forrest are classic noir characters, he tells us his weakness is women, his constant narration sombre and hapless, she's an icy cold bitch of considerable sting. And with Sid James moping around forlornly as the rich husband who is ill of health and broken of heart, the characterisations are vibrant and performed to a good standard to draw us into the play.

    The air is ripe with pungent pessimism, we know from the off that Mark is in trouble, and sure enough the tale contains treachery, death and moral murkiness. Unfortunately the visuals don't quite match the mood of plotting. The lakeside shots are well done, and Kendrick's cottage with the venetian blinds briefly offer up some promise of noirish disharmony, but mostly the picture is filmed in standard black and white and a trick is missed to elevate the piece to better heights.

    Visual missed chances aside, this is a good low budget Brit noir that gets in and does the job well. 7/10

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Certain scenes must have been cut, as some prominently listed cast members (John Sharp, Joan Hickson, Monti de Lyle) are barely visible in the finished film.
    • Goofs
      Despite being set in the Lake District in England Carol drives a left hand drive car on the right side of the road. In England cards drive on the left and cars are right-hand drive.
    • Quotes

      Beverly Forrest: Carol's in love with Carol.

    • Connections
      Featured in The House across the Thames (2022)

    Top picks

    Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
    Sign in

    FAQ13

    • How long is Heat Wave?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • June 21, 1954 (United Kingdom)
    • Country of origin
      • United Kingdom
    • Official sites
      • Streaming on "Cult Cinema Classics" YouTube Chanel
      • Streaming on "The Sprocket Vault" YouTube Chanel
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Heat Wave
    • Filming locations
      • The Showboat, Oldfield Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 1TD, England, UK(Exterior of Lakeside Yacht Club)
    • Production company
      • Hammer Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 8m(68 min)
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.65 : 1

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
    Follow IMDb on social
    Get the IMDb App
    For Android and iOS
    Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • License IMDb Data
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.